Two new polls show Obama up big over Romney with Latino voters

President Obama has a huge lead with Hispanic voters, according to two new polls.

Obama leads Mitt Romney by 70 to 25 percent in a poll of Latino likely voters conducted for NBC News, Telemundo and the Wall Street Journal. That's similar to a 71 to 20 percent lead he has with Hispanic registered voters according to a new poll from Latino Decisions.

Romney's numbers in the NBC/WSJ/Telemundo poll represent a slight uptick from the 21 percent support he had a month ago, but would still mark a historic low for a Republican nominee and are a warning sign for the party. 

As the Hispanic population grows, GOP presidential candidates have seen their share of the vote decrease. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) won 31 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2008, according to exit polls, while President George W. Bush topped 40 percent Hispanic support in 2004.

A top Romney campaign official told The Hill last August that the campaign's goal was to win 38 percent of the Hispanic vote.

Latinos represent a big chunk of the vote in Florida, Colorado and Nevada, three key swing states. Public polling shows Romney with a lead in Florida, where there are many Cuban-American voters who tend to lean Republican. Most polls show Obama with the edge in Nevada, while Colorado appears to be a pure toss-up state. Virginia, another key swing state where polls show a tied race, has a small but fast-growing Latino population.

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